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Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Carson's Bag Of Dirty Tricks

In the aftermath of efforts of the Rep. Julia Carson campaign to smear her Republican opponent by disseminating a 15-year-old police report to the news media and posting it on the Internet with the social security numbers of both Dickerson and his wife, AI recently raised the concern that the Carson campaign or one of her supporters may have used the confidential information to access the Dickersons’ private, credit reports. Dickerson acknowledged his owns suspicions to AI because of some of the personal and business-related information Carson supporters seem to have readily at hand to disseminate on the Internet via local political blogs. Apart from the issue of whether the Dickersons’ private credit reports were illegally accessed as part of a dirt-gathering, opposition research effort by the Carson campaign is an equally concerning issue. That involves the circumstances surrounding the Fifth Third lawsuit against he and his business earlier this summer, which warrant a closer examination.

As a result of the down-sizing of General Motors and the decline of the Buick division, Dickerson decided to sell his north-side Buick dealership to Ed Martin Automotive Group. As Dickerson neared the completion of the transaction with Ed Martin, he was blind-sided by a lawsuit by Fifth Third Bank in mid-July, alleging that he defaulted on loans to buy vehicle inventory, which included a $2 million personal guarantee from Dickerson. Dickerson says the lawsuit was completely unnecessary because Fifth Third’s loan was secured by a lien, and no funds from a sale to Ed Martin could be satisfied until the Fifth Third loan was paid off. Further, Dickerson insists that he had never missed a payment due under the terms of the Fifth Third loan and had not otherwise defaulted on it.

In fact, Fifth Third itself did not allege that Dickerson had not made all payments due under the loan when it filed suit against him. Instead, Fifth Third alleged that repayment of the notes was not made within “applicable time frames,” which it says triggered default according to an Indianapolis Business Journal report on the suit. That could mean that a payment that was due on the 1st of the month was paid on the 5th of the month. I suspect that anyone who has a monthly mortgage payment or car payment has on occasion made a payment late by innocent mistake, but your lender didn’t rush to the courthouse to file a lawsuit against you for what is at best a technical default, although the technical terms of the loan agreement may permit the lender to declare you in default. The bank also alleged that the loans were in default because neither the dealership nor Dickerson filed annual financial and tax statements for 2005. Again, as long as Dickerson had made all the payments, this should not have caused the bank to rush to the courthouse. It had a recorded lien to protect its interest in any sales proceeds.

By filing the lawsuit when it did, just weeks before Dickerson was scheduled to close on his sale with Ed Martin, Fifth Third's actions created the impression that Dickerson’s Buick dealership was failing. It also had the potential of blowing up the sale by unnecessarily creating misapprehensions on the part of Ed Martin as to the solvency of the business. Within days of the story of the lawsuit breaking in the Indianapolis Business Journal, Fifth Third had its money according to news reports, and the lawsuit was dropped just as Dickerson had insisted when he was first asked by news reporters about the lawsuit. Is it not fair to question whether Fifth Third had an ulterior motive given that Dickerson was in the midst of a political campaign for 7th District Congress?

Consider that Rep. Julia Carson is a member of the House Banking Committee which has jurisdiction over legislation affecting federally-regulated financial institutions. She supported key legislation supported by the banking lobby, including the Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act of 2004, which eased numerous banking regulations. According to federal campaign disclosure statements, her campaigns have been financially supported by senior officers of area financial institutions. Also, consider the fact that Rep. Carson has successfully pressured local financial institutions in Indianapolis to hire minority employees for key banking positions, and to provide more business loans to minority business owners. This alone is mere circumstantial evidence at best. Moreover, AI did not uncover any Carson contributors who work for Fifth Third Bank from a review of her recent campaign finance disclosure forms. And if that’s not enough, most observers gave Dickerson little chance of defeating Carson. What motive would she or anyone at Fifth Third have to damage his campaign?

In Carson's case, you need look no further than this year’s primary for the answer to that question. Consider the fact that during this year’s primary election when Carson faced opposition from an openly gay, self-financed Democratic candidate, Kris Kiser, GLBT activist Marla Stevens posted a scandalous story on Kiser at Bilerico.com, which accused Kiser of virtually every imaginable misdeed, including criminal activity. AI will not recount those charges because of their extreme, defamatory nature. Bilerico’s Bil Browning purged the offending Stevens’ post after she failed to produce evidence to document some of the more wild and salacious charges she leveled against Kiser.

This Kiser incident is worth mentioning because Stevens is one of Carson’s largest, individual campaign contributors during the current election cycle, having given the Carson campaign $4,100. AI has also learned that the Carson campaign, prior to the May primary, peddled Stevens’ unsubstantiated charges about Kiser to a Star reporter, who passed on it because he believed Kiser was going to lose badly anyway so why bother. At no time did Rep. Carson seek to distance or disassociate herself from Stevens’ smear of Kiser. Although Kiser had a very successful career as a legislative staffer and lobbyist in Washington, D.C. prior to his first bid for public office, he had only lived in the district about a year before jumping into the race against Carson. While he certainly hadn’t earned the right to represent the 7th District voters, he certainly didn’t deserve to be personally and professionally smeared in this manner by the Carson campaign, particularly when he posed no real threat to her re-nomination. Kiser tells AI that his professional career has been badly damaged as a result of the damaging, unsubstantiated charges Stevens’ published against him, making it difficult for him to find employment.

While AI emphasizes that there is absolutely no evidence linking Fifth Third in any way to the Carson campaign, it is extremely troubling that Fifth Third opted the lawsuit route against Dickerson in this instance based upon what the bank has publicly released to date. The bank had to know that Dickerson was in the midst of a campaign against an incumbent member of Congress who sits on a committee of the House which oversees federally-regulated financial institutions like itself. By filing the lawsuit against him, the bank raised the specter of Dickerson being perceived by the 7th District voters as just another failed businessman. While the bank may not have had a motive to harm Dickerson, Carson’s past practices give us every indication she has a motive and opportunity to smear her opponents in this fashion.

Shortly after Dickerson routed his GOP rivals, including the slated party candidate with 54% of the primary vote, the Star’s Matt Tully had these flattering words for Dickerson:

Dickerson has everything the GOP could want in a candidate. He’s a black businessman with a great resume. He knows how to reach voters, as proved by his trouncing of former City-County Councilman Ron Franklin in the GOP primary. And Dickerson has a name everybody knows—because of years of advertising for his self-titled Buick dealership, and because of that onetime Colt. “I call it the Eric Dickerson bump,” he said of the perception among many that he is the former NFL player. “I don’t mind.”

While Tully’s words may not mean a lot to the average voter in the 7th District, I assure you they made Rep. Carson’s blood boil. If there is one thing she dislikes more than anything, it’s an uppity black person ala Clarence Thomas who dares to think for himself. In Carson’s world, the only black people who are permitted to get ahead politically in Indianapolis are those who have her permission. Dickerson’s success had nothing to do with her, and in her mind he posed a threat to her hold on the black community, much the same way she erroneously perceived Kiser to be a threat to her lock on Indianapolis’ GLBT community.

I know there will be many skeptics who will consider all of this to be too conspiratorial in nature to absorb. And that’s understandable. But to those skeptics, I ask you to examine what happened to Rep. Carson’s ex-husband, Sammy Carson, after he spurned her for a younger woman he married after he was divorced from Rep. Carson. As the old saying goes, “Hell hath no fury like a woman spurned.” The following account is based on Indianapolis Star& News accounts at the time.

Carson’s ex-husband, Sammy, was a disabled veteran. He remarried Virginia Carson, a secretary with a local Knights of Columbus hall, after his divorce from then-State Sen. Julia Carson. A few years later, both Sammy and Virginia would find their world turned upside down when they found themselves in a federal criminal court in Indianapolis charged with petty income tax evasion from alleged gambling and lottery winnings the couple were alleged to have earned but not reported on their federal income tax returns. Among other things, the federal prosecutor would tell jurors the Carsons had too much money to spend for the money they reported because they had purchased a $6,770 diamond ring and $2,718 worth of furs. The Indianapolis Star’s David Rohn reported on the opening day of their trial on July 30, 1980: “One of the spectators in the courtroom when the trial began yesterday was Sen. Julia Carson, D-Indianapolis, who is the former wife of Sammy Carson.”

So what does Julia’s presence in the courtroom have to do with the prosecution of her ex-husband and his younger wife on income tax evasion charges? Well, there’s a lot of circumstantial evidence. Carson worked for Rep. Andy Jacobs before she was elected to the state legislature. At the time of the trial, Jacobs was a member of the House Ways & Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over the IRS. The K of C hall at which Sammy Carson’s wife worked was the subject of a rare audit by the IRS, and the case was turned over for criminal investigation in 1977, soon after Democrat Jimmy Carter won the presidency.

Long-time Carson friend and supporter, Virginia Dill McCarty, was appointed as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. McCarty would make the decision to indict the Carsons on income tax evasion charges after the case languished for several years. McCarty, who died recently, would later be hired by Carson to serve as Center Township’s attorney when she became Center Township Trustee, and McCarty regularly made large contributions to Carson’s political campaigns. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paula Lopossa would prosecute the case on behalf of McCarty’s office. She too is a long-time friend and political supporter of Julia’s. Carson helped Lopossa win a seat on the Marion Superior Court and, after she lost her seat on the bench, Carson helped her win the post as Center Township’s small claims court judge. Lopossa also has contributed to Carson’s campaigns, including $1,000 during a recent election cycle.

Fortunately for Sammy Carson, the jurors weren’t convinced by McCarty’s and Lopossa’s case against them. The jury failed to convict Sammy on any of the charges and found Virginia guilty on just one charge after only 4 ½ hours of deliberation. The Indianapolis Star reported on August 2, 1980:

Although the government was not required to prove specific allegations about the source of unreported income, evidence showed Carson was a gambler and that he and his wife ran a Knights of Columbus lottery where Mrs. Carson was an unusually frequent winner.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paula Lopossa told jurors it was not necessary to prove where the unreported income came from, only that the Carsons had access to the additional income that a record of their purchases reflect they received . . .

The Carson’s attorney, John J. Rochfordd, said a $17,000 inheritance Carson received from a sister and the non-taxable income he received as a disabled veteran contributed to income that permitted such purchases. Regarding any suggestion that she skimmed profits from the K of C lottery, Mrs. Carson said that her continued employment at the K of C until the lottery ended was evidence that her superiors did not suspect her of any wrongdoing.

What do you believe? Do you think it was just happenstance that a K of C hall where Carson’s ex-husband’s wife worked would get audited by the IRS; that illegal gambling winnings of the Carsons would be discovered; and that criminal income tax evasion charges would be brought against he and his wife by prosecutors who just happened to be good friends and supporters of Julia’s? Perhaps. Or is Julia just really good at exacting punishment on anyone who gets in her way? Again, it is all just circumstantial evidence, and there is absolutely no proof that Carson conspired with government prosecutors to get even with her ex-husband. AI also isn't condoning the gambling winnings the Carsons may have failed to report on their income tax returns. But how often do you see the federal government pursuing these types of income tax evasion cases? I suspect very few people report gambling winnings from poker games at the VFW hall or other gambling winnings garnered by those who frequent these establishments.

It may well be the case that Fifth Third’s lawsuit against Dickerson was made with the purest of motives. The bank has had little to say about the matter. Alan Statman, an attorney for Fifth Third, told the IBJ at the time the suit was first reported on that he was hopeful both sides could resolve the issues without further litigation. Based on subsequent news reports, that is exactly what happened. Statman could have cleared up this matter at the time had he or someone else from the bank more fully explained why they decided to file suit against Dickerson. Instead, the bank sat by idly while the Carson campaign pounced on the news to discredit him as a failed businessman. Given the highly-charged atmosphere of political campaigns, replete with dirty tricks, people have a right to be skeptical. AI, for one, is very skeptical about everything that happens in a Carson campaign. Things never seem to be as they first appear.

47 comments:

I'm perplexed by the references to Sam Carson - he was at the big ceremony recently where our Congresslady was presented with the oil portrait hanging at the Julia Carson Government Center. I have some great photos of her and Sam together. I have known Sam for years - never did I once suspect there was hostility and animosity. They certainly are friendly today!

Sorry Gary - your flair for conspiracy has taken you over the top on this one ... you have entered the dark recesses of Jocelyn-land.

So you think she was just sitting in the courtroom 26 years ago to offer her moral support for he and his new wife while her good friends prosecuted him on petty income tax evasion charges? She may well have different feelings for him today.

Marla Stevens contributed $4,100 to her campaign? I don't remember her making contributions anywhere near that size when she worked as a lobbyist for GLBT issues in Indiana. Doesn't she live in Iowa now?

Senator Julia Carson was indeed there for moral support - that's what I've always heard from the grapevine. That gambling charge was actually around fundraising for St. Rita's School - those charges were a cause celebre within the Black community at the time.

The more I learn about the Kiser stuff, the more upset I become with Julia. I appreciate her support for gay issues, but I don't understand why it was necessary to harm Kiser. Everyone I knew in the gay community planned to support her because we didn't know anything about Kiser. I read those things Marla said about him and she couldn't have said worse things about him--everything bad people think about gay men.

Explain to us Wilson why Carson accepts political contributions from someone who does a hatchet job on Kris Kiser because he's gay and helps spread those vicious lies about him? You seem to have all the answers for the Carson campaign. If she didn't approve of what Marla did, why didn't she return Marla's campaign contributions.

Someone other than myself smells her dirty ways. You can guarantee that all of this is much more than coincidence.

Keep talking about it. The truth will eventually come out. Fifth Third and Carson, if this is true, are in a lot of hot water. Many serious laws will have been broken. Someone always slips up somewhere.

as I recall from the Fifth/Third complaint, Dickerson didnt file copies of his tax returns or corporate reports as required by the terms of the loan. That could make a banker nervous about their $2,000,000 it seems to me ... just sayin'

I'm very aware of the Kiser posts and their damage. They were libelous, and very personally harmful to Kris and his partner. He threatened legal action, and probably should've. His campaign never recovered, and although he lost badly, his vote total was impacted greatly. However you measure it, it was a dirty trick and untrue.

The 5/3 lawsuit is another matter. Why would a bank risk public scorn like this? If their interest was protected by a lien, all they had to do was perfect the lien. If, on the other hand, they had no record of ED's tax filings, as typically required in such a lawsuit, their files ought to be flush with letters demanding compliance. Typically, those kinds of default provisions are accompanied by warning letters before a lawsuit is filed.

Ms. Carson and her minions have dabbled in others' lives often enough that this crap was bound to get around. More and more people do connect the dots, even if the Wilsons of the world proclaim otherwise.

Sometimes, public perception is way beyond reality. I think Ms. Carson's gig is finally up on this nonsense. Whether she loses or not, few will oppose her in the future without a full arsenal of anti-Julia weapons.

Which just might include some opp research, and later public discloure on Julia.

7] Slow down or stop the sale to Ed Martin Group until after the election.

8] Ed Martin agrees to purchase the dealership and closes the deal.

9] Carson assumed a lien against the business may stop the sale or slow it down until after the election causing Dickerson financial havoc during the campaign.

10] The public questions his image as a responsible businessman, compared to Carson's track record of past debts, gambling habit, garnishments and delinquent taxes.

11] Dickerson will have enough money from the sale to finance his own campaign.

12] Fifth/Third is paid in full, the lawsuit is dropped.

13] Carson & Company held back the smoking gun from the Primary Election.

14] Carson & Company failed to destroy Dickerson's image and credibility as a successful businessman.

15] A 15 year old police report for domestic abuse is delivered to the Star's Editorial Board on Monday, personally delivered by Carson. A] Carson disappears for three days, no comment while the information is publicized.

16] Carson had not planned for Mrs. Dickerson to speak out denouncing the statements in the report.

17] The impact of the report was not as great as Carson had expected.

18] Carson's own reports of domestic violence in her two failed marriages surfaced.

19] Latinos/Hispanics held a downtown rally against domestic violence the same weekend; Carson, Kennedy and Delaney heighten awareness to women voters.

20] Inspire of Carson's rumors and accusations Dickerson is gaining support in the district.

Her planned strategies:

A - Focus on his finances;1] Less cash on hand for campaign2] Fifth/Third lawsuit against dealership3] Lawsuit placed a lien on the business to prevent the sale4] Ed Martin Group closed the sale in spite of the suit.5] Bank received payment in full6] Lawsuit is dismissed.

B - Focus on domestic violence 3] 15 year old police report

Now that Julia Carson and company has played their best hand.

Congress goes on recess Friday, October 6th.

C - No time for debates

The public demands to have several joint appearance Dickerson vs Carson for the 7th Congressional District.

I find it interesting that so many people with salacious rumors prefer to leave them anonymously. It would seem that Dickerson & Kiser operatives abound on this forum but can say things with impunity because they comment anonymously.

Why, if what you say is true, do you need to hide behind the veil of anonymous? If Julia is so bad and Kiser and Dickerson are so wonderful, why then are these anonymous commenters so fearful to have their names printed next to their comments?

Because this post and it's comments are no less a hatchet job than what is being claimed was done by Marla. Neither raise the public discourse and neither brings forward a compelling reason to vote FOR either candidate.

I would never take seriously the words of anyone not willing to stand by them publicly. This is exactly why Marla's post was removed from bilerico.com and exactly why these comments are just graffiti on the wall.

Speaking of Kiser...

I met with the man (his campaign threatened to sue me and my partner over Marla's post). He only denied 3 of the many charges that Marla leveled against him and had NO evidence of real use to back up those claims.

In fact, he admitted to many of the circumstances described in Marla's post only he offered a different explanation of what happened. Marla's stories were sourced anonymously, but she had a lot of the details right. How much of the details were correct are known to only to a few. I can't say one way or another, but I can say that having the stories told to me by Marla and told to me by Kiser himself, they only diverge at certain key details.

I stand by what I've said about this issue before. Kiser was not the man to replace Julia. Just because he's a gay man doesn't mean I'm rushing out to vote for him. Besides, the primary is long over. He lost. He is young enough to run many more times. Perhaps once he's better vetted and spent more than a few months in the district, he'll have a better shot at winning.

Vote Her Out--as much as I'd like to agree with you, there are several fundamental flaws in your logic:

1. Peoples Bank and 5/3 Bank merged over five years ago.

2. Approval of that merger was not required by any arm of Congress. Congress in 1972 or before, removed such approvals from their purview, and transferred bank charter questions to another agency. The correct approval agency is US Comptroller of the Currency. I've dealt with them. There isn't a more arms-length, apolotical agency in DC...they detest Congress and year-to-year political machinations. Think green eyeshades and armbands...old-style bankers, lawyers and auditors. Strictly by the book. They dot every single "i."

3. As for "assessing" Eric's car dealership, Julia was a township trustee, not assessor...and the dealership is in Washington Township, not Center. If, as trustee, she had an opinion of the worth of his dealership, it's immaterial.

4. Unless Ed Martin closed the dealership purchase in cash and uninsured, I assure you the ED loan was satisfied and the land delivered lien-free. No loan would ever be issued to EM to buy ED's dealership if a two mil default judgment loomed. Bank examiners, title examiners and just plain folk get jittery about such loose ends. A half-dozen folks would've lost their jobs if such a closing occured.

Your yarn makes a decent political intrigue novel...and I sense that some of it rings true. But you're working yourself into a lather without knowing all the consequences of your suggestions.

Be careful or people may start calling you Jocelyn.

The 5/3 foreclosure lawsuit is a puzzle to me, too...its timing and consequences made no sense.

But it may just be one bank officer making a judgment call, without knwoing its implications. It could be that simple.

So if I hear you right Jerame, you think it was perfectly okay for the Carson campaign to use Marla to disseminate the negative information concerning her gay opponent--most of which played to negative steretypes of gay men, even though she was easily going to beat him anyway, just to teach him a lesson?

Marla gave $1,000 to Miss Carson on at least two occasions, which is her legal right. She may have given more...it matters little.

She lives in Iowa, and that address was listed on the campaign finance reports.

She listed her employment, I believe, as "self," which many attorneys do. She has been known to accept compensation from a group of Indiana entities who lobby for gender equality and fairness issues. They are a loose-knit coalition, and although their cause is just, their chosen lobbyists are often not very well-regarded in the legislature.

Before anyone gets any wild ideas, I'd almost consider that last statement to be a compliment, given the character of our legislature.

She is the one who first surfaced with the anti-Kiser stuff in April. It was vile and untrue. Who fed it to her is the subject of much speculation.

The fact she has always strongly supported Ms. Carson is not new news...many other bloggers who weighed in at the time were similarly supportive of Ms. Carson.

But she published outright and known, ridiculous lies. It was well-timed. She would not budge, and if I were Kris, I'd have sued her, because it was patently untrue. Politics aside, someone has to stand for the truth, even in a campaign.

So, spin on, conspiracy theorists...if it makes any difference, it's one more yarn about how Julia's forces seem to stir things at just the precisely right time. Coincidence? I doubt it.

"It would seem that Dickerson & Kiser operatives abound on this forum but can say things with impunity because they comment anonymously."

Dickerson's folks do require some anonymity. After all it's Julia Carson who has two armed henchmen [Tony Duncan and Carl Drummer] that are armed with guns, badges, and tricked out po-po cars. They won't think twice about killing you because when Julia is voted out of office her goon squad won't be able to get a job at McDonalds!!!

Normally, routine lawsuits between banks and autodealers are in fine print in business journals. I suspect what made this particular lawsuit "interesting" was the fact that the defendant happened to be a Republican candidate for Congress. When political newcomer Eric Dickerson decided to run for Congress, I dont think he realized how his life and business would be so scrutinized. Did he really think his arrests for battery with injury would never be noticed? That's so naive!

yGary, I can't begin to understand what possessed you to write some of this and won't try but, about certain portions of it of which I'm rather intimately aware, I must say: Horsepucky!

Yes, my wife and I have been long-time major donors and strong supporters of Rep. Carson -- and have been so at least since she first ran for Congress, long before my wife was transferred to her company's Iowa home office.

[NOTE to Anonymous -- This data is readily available on the public record so am I to assume that the rest of what you say is as unreliable as your claim that my fiscal support for Rep. Carson was somehow lacking while I was a resident of Indiana instead of a mere Indiana homeowner with also a rental pied-a-terre in the Hoosier state?]

Rep. Carson actively supports our equal access to civil marriage and goes out of her way, spending serious political capital, to support LGBT peoples' rights in general, as well as other things my wife and I hold dear. We view those in our community not supporting her as people who strangely like to do the political equivalent of pointing big loaded guns at their feet and pulling the triggers.

That said, you have no way of knowing why I wrote what I wrote about Kiser, nor have you bothered with the journalistic niceties of asking why before engaging in wild speculation about it. Shame on you!

What I wrote about Kiser was motivated by a well-informed belief that Mr. Kiser isn't fit to live among decent people in Indiana, much less represent it in any official capacity. I would've written it no matter who was his opponent. I would've written it if he'd been running unopposed. And I was most certainly not taking direction from the Carson campaign to write it.

Since parting company with his previous employer, Mr. Kiser had already been unemployed at length -- and purportedly unemployable -- in a lobbying job market in D.C. that had never been hotter. That was not my doing.

And, as I've said to you before, "Defamation? Prove it." My piece was removed from bilerico, I've been told, on your advice -- not because I lacked sources but because I gave my word not to reveal them -- word I have kept and will keep -- and because bilerico was too impoverished to fight the fight. I acquiesced because I believed it to be the greater good.

Mr. Kiser has slunk back to D.C., whereupon he quickly replaced his D.C. resident tag on his automobile. Good riddance.

I remain proud to support the campaign of Rep. Carson as well as a number of other candidates around the country I can count on to fight for the things in which I believe. On the heels of the Foley scandal, such people -- people like Patty Wetterling of Minnesota (running against the wackily hateful state Sen. Michele Bachmann for an open Congressional seat) are needed now more than ever.

So, in the spirit of what I said above to Anonymous, as you were given in your post to wild imaginings about my motives that couldn't be further from the truth, why on earth would anyone with any sense believe your ravings about Rep. Carson?

Marla, you and I discussed this issue at length last spring when you pulled this stunt. You knew how I felt about it, and I knew how you felt about it. You and I both know how you came into the information you sought to publicize about Kizer. And you know full well it had the full blessing of the Carson campaign.

I'm not passing judgement on anything Marla said. She couldn't back it up with named sources, so I and Bil removed it from the site.

What I am saying is that in my meeting with Kiser, he admitted to many things that Marla charged, though sometimes in a slightly different context. He only flatly denied 3 key points of her post. Those are the facts exactly as I reported them after I met with Kiser.

The fact remains that we did the responsible thing by removing Marla's post, even if it was under duress. We don't do anyone's hatchet work and we don't allow anonymous sources unless at least WE can verify the source.

What I am also saying is that this post is no more than the pot calling the kettle black. You're doing your own hatchet job on Julia in the same breath as accusing others of being horrible people for doing the same to Kiser. It's just absurd. You can't claim the moral high ground and roll in the mud all in the same motion.

I really don't need to say more about Kiser. Whether the allegations against him are true. Whether Julia knew and condoned Marla's behavior (which I truly doubt). Whether Kiser is really a saint...I met him personally and didn't care much for him. I didn't think he represented me, this district, or the gay community well. It's over. He may run again. He has every right. Doesn't mean I'm gonna vote for him.

Nice try, Jerame. If Mr. Kiser denied any of the key points in Marla's post, let alone "3 key points," it shouldn't have been published. Period. It was particularly vile and personal. Bil did the right thing by pulling it. He should never have published it. It had absolutely nothing to do with vital issues of the day. Those are completely fair game. Deeply personal accusations about a candidate's partner's love life...well, that's just ridiculous.

Interesting how you parse guilt and assign blame or merit to the situation. Marla's excuses for submitting ridiculous charges, only belittle her. We're all entitled to our opinions of candidates for office. That's the risk candidates take by putting their name on the ballot.

Candidates do not, however, put themselves up for personally harmful lies spread through blogs which post first, ask for verification later. I have noticed that your blog, and many others, do not engage in that kind of irresponsible posting since that time. So maybe something good came from it.

My only hope is that all involved learned something from it.

And that it won't be repeated in this fall's election. Miss Carson and her opponent deserve a higher plane.

For the record, I have stated in previous comments that former employees are talking about the actions of Carson and Drummer in the Center Township Office.

Fear. The reasons some comments are posted anonymous these individuals do not care to be harassed beyond this election.

They have first hand knowledge, whether you want to believe their comments are not.

Wrong again Wilson, yes for your information several employees have called me and disclosed certain information relating to the way business was conducted in the office. They have informed me about you and your conduct.

I have visited the State Board of Accounts office in the past, the managing accountant at the time explained to me the kind of audits they perform.

The audits do not reveal the relationships of poor relief recipients to employees in the office. They primarily audit tax dollars and how the money is spent.

It is no secret that I had to file a lawsuit in Superior Court in 1996 against Carson as the Trustee to get copies of financial records and contracts in the Trustees office. It was after having received numerous telephone calls from employees in the office.

Remember, I never worked there. I don't live with fear of your insults and harassment.

Carson didn't want to comply with the Freedom of Information Act. The judge had to order her to allow me to review specific records that I had requested.

Jereme Davis: The comments are not rumors, and you don't have to believe them or read them.

For the record, I have stated in previous comments that former employees are talking about the actions of Carson and Drummer in the Center Township Office.

Fear. The reasons some comments are posted anonymous these individuals do not care to be harassed beyond this election.

They have first hand knowledge, whether you want to believe their comments are not.

Wrong again Wilson, yes for your information several employees have called me and disclosed certain information relating to the way business was conducted in the office. They have informed me about you and your conduct.

I have visited the State Board of Accounts office in the past, the managing accountant at the time explained to me the kind of audits they perform.

The audits do not reveal the relationships of poor relief recipients to employees in the office. They primarily audit tax dollars and how the money is spent.

It is no secret that I had to file a lawsuit in Superior Court in 1996 against Carson as the Trustee to get copies of financial records and contracts in the Trustees office. It was after having received numerous telephone calls from employees in the office.

Remember, I never worked there. I don't live with fear of your insults and harassment.

Carson didn't want to comply with the Freedom of Information Act. The judge had to order her to allow me to review specific records that I had requested.

Jereme Davis: The comments are not rumors, and you don't have to believe them or read them.

Jerame didn't say that Kiser's denials held water. He just said he made them. By your logic, the stories surrounding Tom DeLay leading up to his resignation wouldn't have been publishable as DeLay was denying the charges -- and still is.

For your information, hypocrisy and lies in politics may not be pretty but they are newsworthy. If that's news to you, perhaps you shouldn't be playing on the grown-up's court.

Anonymous wrote about me, "She has been known to accept compensation from a group of Indiana entities who lobby for gender equality and fairness issues."

Wrong again! In all the decades I lobbied at the Indiana state legislature, I never accepted a penny in compensation for my work there -- and only rarely even submitted my expenses for any of my activism for reimbursement from the organizations on behalf of which I lobbied. Instead, my wife and I made a family decision to self-fund the bulk of our activism, often at considerable personal expense.

The only "loose-knit coalition" of "Indiana entities who lobby for gender equality and fairness issues" that I remember that was a registered lobbying group at the time was the Gender Fairness Coalition. While I agree that "their cause is just" and supported their work, at no time did I serve as the registered lobbyist for that group, although I did participate in their conference committee 'death watch' task-sharing working group during many a session's end game, along with a number of others who worked in the public's interest who also had a personal interest in being able to get at least a few hours sleep every once in a while and found that sharing the conference committee watch duties was a practical means to that end.

The Gender Fairness Coalition was anything but a wealthy group and did sometimes hire entry-level lobbyists as a result but those I remember often went on to lobby for more prestigious groups and never did I remember one I would have thought incompetent. The public interest issues for which it advocates are often held in low regard by some at the statehouse but I think that speaks to the nature of public-interest work versus Gucci-gulch corporate "ka-ching" lobbying as well as to the related "best legislature money can buy" problems that have been too rampant in that body for too long than about the quality of the lobbying in the public interest that takes place there.

Wilson knows alot about Carson because he worked for her at the Center Township Trustee's office.He is just another lacky of Carson's.She's a corrupt person and he knows it,he being a party to it,he too has done "dirty deeds." But I believe that God will soon uncover their lies and people will see her for what she truly is.She has deceived those unfortunate Black people in her district for many years and they only vote for her because she is Black.She likes to play the victim role and she plays it well,while cutting the throats of anyone who doesn't obey her.She has blackmailed Whites because her strong showings in elections,they dare not oppose her.She has her own little family in politics and like a Queen,she appoints who will run for what seat and when.I hope that this Dickerson thing will expose her for whom she really is. A voice in the the wilderness

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